Phillies open international signing period by inking three

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., left, shakes hands with No. 1 pick Aaron Nola before a game earlier in June. Amaro and the Phillies signed three players during the international signing period which opened Wednesday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

MIAMI — The obvious consolation prize for being a bad team in any of the major professional sports is a high draft selection the following year. The Phillies spent their seventh overall selection last month on LSU right-hander Aaron Nola, who bounced back from an ugly debut to throw four scoreless innings for Class A Clearwater Tuesday.

However, a less-ballyhooed perk of being a bad big-league team arrived Wednesday, when the international signing period opened to the 30 clubs. While technically a free-for-all in which teams can sign as many players as possible, there is a stepped allotment of cap money available. The last-place Astros have $5.015 million; the N.L. champion Cardinals have $1.866 million. Teams can go over that number, but the overages are subject to a tax and eventually result in capped maximums an organization can give any player in future years.

The Phillies have $3.222 million to spend. Well, they did. They got out to a quick start Wednesday, spending about half of that money on three players, a pair of Venezuelan shortstops and a left-handed pitcher from Panama.

The player with the most hype is switch-hitting infielder Arquimedes Gamboa, a 16-year-old the Phillies handed a $900,000 bonus. The other Venezuelan infielder is Daniel Brito, who was given a $650,000 bonus. The left-handed pitcher from Panama is John Nunez, and he received a $100,000 bonus. Gamboa’s bonus is the equivalent of that of a late-second-round pick, Brito’s an early-third-rounder. Nunez’s bonus is slightly less than that of players taken in the 10th round of June’s draft.

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General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said that the Phillies were close to signing another significant Latino prospect and that he expected to spend most if not all of the allotted money.

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Remember Miguel Gonzalez, the Cuban right-hander the Phillies gave a $12 million big-league contract more than 10 months ago?

After several starts and stalls since spring training that included rough outings and three trips to team doctors for examinations of his shoulder, the 27-year-old finally seems to be healthy and in pitching shape. The Phillies removed him from the 60-day disabled list and had him assigned to Double-A Reading after a strong couple of weeks out of the bullpen for Clearwater. In six innings he allowed one run and struck out eight while not walking a batter.

“He was throwing much better, more consistently,” Amaro said. “He was throwing his breaking ball a little better. His velocity has been pretty consistent. He’s gotten up to 96-97 (mph). He touched 97. He got (ticked) off at somebody.”

Amaro said Gonzalez likely will spend the final two months as a reliever, but could return to starting next year if his arm shows better stamina. Asked if Gonzalez might make a September cameo with the Phillies if he is pitching effectively in the minors, Amaro responded, “yeah, why not?”

To make room for Gonzalez on the 40-man roster, the Phillies transferred Mike Adams to the 60-day disabled list, which would mean the veteran right-hander, who continues to have shoulder issues, won’t be back until early August, if at all. Adams hasn’t been cleared to throw yet.

“We think he’s going to be back,” Amaro said of Adams’ hopes for pitching against this season, “but we’ll see.”

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Domonic Brown had just had his first back-to-back multiple-hit games in more than two months after rapping out a pair of singles in the Phillies’ loss to the Marlins Tuesday when the stork took him away for the final two games in Miami.

Brown returned to Philadelphia Wednesday morning for paternity leave, joining his girlfriend as she prepared to give birth to their child.

The Phillies replaced the struggling outfielder on the active roster with Aaron Altherr, who arrived at Marlins Park less than two hours before the start of the game. Asked why he decided to add Altherr over Grady Sizemore, the veteran outfielder signed by the Phils to a minor-league deal last week, Amaro said that he expects Brown to rejoin the team in Pittsburgh and prefers that Sizemore, who homered for Triple-A Lehigh Valley Wednesday night, get a few more games under his belt in the minors before he is called up for what the Phillies hope is a long-term stay in the majors.